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The Phantom Menace: Difference between revisions

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The Phantom Menace (view source)

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* [[Boisterous Bruiser]]
* [[Boy Meets Girl]]: Anakin meets Padmé {{spoiler|who is actually the Queen of Naboo, and his future wife}} for the first time.
* [[The Cameo]]: Warwick Davis (who played the main Ewok in ''Return Of The Jedi'') had a couple of minor (but visible) background roles.
* [[The Cavalry Arrives Late]]: All those Jedi arrive well after the battle, where they could have helped Obi-Wan defeat Maul more easily, possibly even have saved Qui-Gon.
* [[Cheaters Never Prosper]]: Sebulba learns this in a humiliating way.
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* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]: The Trade Federation, which is willing to sell itself out to [[The Dark Side|the Sith]] in return for [[Only in It For the Money|profit]] (or in the EU backstory, settling a vendetta against Senator Palpatine).
* [[Cowboy Cop]]: Qui-Gon is the Jedi version of this. He goes with his gut feelings, rather than established procedure. He bends the rules to see justice done. He's been passed over for promotion by the suits on the Jedi Council for his actions, and he's willing to challenge their authority. Oddly, by the time we reach [[Return of the Jedi]], Luke Skywalker seems more like Qui-Gon (who he's never met) than Kenobi or Yoda (who trained him).
* [[Crapsack World]]: Tatooine. For one thing, it's stated in the movie that it's ruled by the Hutts (whom according to Panaka are gangsters) and it's clear from the movie that slavery is considered acceptable there, including the use of ''children'' as slaves. There's also the [[Blood Sport|podracing]], which people also bet various things (including the fate of slaves) on. Even putting aside the nature of its society, there's also the weather; dangerous sandstorms can come up on short notice, which the Tatooine residents apparently predict through aching bones, and that doesn't give them much time to find shelter. <ref>And yes, Tatooine's a [[Crapsack World]] in other installments too, but it's probably taken further in this installment than it is in the other ones.</ref>
* [[Darkest Hour]]: Qui-Gon dies. The Gungans are defeated. Anakin is stranded inside an enemy ship. Amidala is caught by the federation. [[Two Lines, No Waiting|All at the same time.]]
* [[Decoy Leader]]: "After her! This one's a decoy!"
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* [[Exact Words]]: "Stay in that cockpit!" from Qui-Gon to Anakin. Never mind that Anakin accidentally activates the Naboo fighter craft in question, subsequently blasts a few Destroyer droids, and ultimately takes out the reactor core of the orbiting Trade Federation control ship....
* [[Fighter Launching Sequence]]: The Nabooean fighter pilots [[Chekhov's Gunman|who the heroes rescued during their escape from the planet earlier in the film]] make off in their fighters during the film's climax. One of them is shot down on takeoff and crashes in a valley below.
* [[Filk Song]]: [["Weird Al" Yankovic|Weird Al Yankovic]]'s [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEcjgJSqSRU "The Saga Begins"] (which he wrote before the movie with internet spoilers, and Al even attended a charity screening to make sure it was accurate!).
* [[Final Battle]]: There are ''4four'' of them (a 3-way lightsaber duel, a massive ground battle, a big space battle and a smaller ground assault). Its been pointed out that the ''Star Wars'' movies had an increasing number of final battles per movie. At an early screening for execs and higher-ups the editor pointed out that because there was so much going on the audience's mood was being pulled from comedy to drama to excitement to sadness so much that it was losing its power. Lucas realized that he had gone overboard and that he couldn't fix it in the editing because [[Four Lines, All Waiting|all four scenes are intertwined]], and in the latter two movies he backed down on it significantly.
* [[Fixing the Game]]: Qui-Gon doesn't qualm to cheat at dice if it serves the greater good.
* [[Force Field Door]]: During a duel with Darth Maul.
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* [[Impaled with Extreme Prejudice]]: {{spoiler|Qui-Gon.}}
* [[Implacable Man]]: Darth Maul as he stalks his prey, the Queen (and the two Jedi protecting her).
* [[Impossibly Cool Clothes]]: Amidala's wardrobe. Also a plot point, her makeup and clothing was designed specifically to make it impossible to see who was Amidala and who was her decoy. [[Keira Knightley]] played her decoy, who does somewhat [[Identical Stranger|resemble]] [[Natalie Portman]], played her decoy.
* [[Keystone Army]]: The droid army {{spoiler|malfunctions when the control ship is knocked out}}.
** Similarly, the {{spoiler|Gungan}} army turns and runs as soon as their shield generator is knocked out. Justified, because while the shield was up the only thing that could get through was the Trade Federation's infantry. After the shield is down their heavy firepower could move in.
* [[Kill'Em All]]: Darth Sidious orders to Lord Maul and the Federation: "Wipe them out. All of them."
* [[Large Ham]]: Jar -Jar Binks, Watto and Boss Nass.
** Boss Nass is after all voiced by [[Brian Blessed]].
* [[The Last DJ]]: Obi-Wan hints that Qui-Gon is this character type.
* [[Lethal Klutz]]: Jar -Jar Binks destroys quite a few combat droids accidentally during the final battle for Naboo. In one scene he accidentally unlatches the door to a stash of grenade-like devices, sending them into the enemy ranks; in another, his foot gets caught in one droid, and trying to escape causes the droid's blaster to fire, taking out another droid.
* [[Lighter and Softer]]: Despite the page quote up top there, children and funny-talking aliens play a large part in the plot. More obviously, the [[Used Future]] aesthetic of the original trilogy was done away with in order to help demonstrate that this is the "more civilized age" that Obi-Wan mentioned in ''[[A New Hope]]''.
* [[Meaningful Background Event]]: In a couple scenes while characters are going about their business on Tatooine, you might catch an inconspicuous floating droid hover past in the background - or catch a listen to their signature sound effect - which have a striking resemblance to those we saw belonging to Darth Maul...
* [[Meditation Powerup]]: When Qui-Gon fought Maul on Naboo. {{spoiler|It helped, but not enough.}}
* [[Mole in Charge]]: Palpatine / Sidious.
* [[Mook Horror Show]]: Invoked by the creators with the Trade Federation members hiding from the Jedi whichwhom nothing could stop. The DVD commentary specifically states this was an inversion of the typical "humans cowering in fear of the unstoppable alien" dynamic from old horror movies.
* [[The Mothership]]: The Federation command ship {{spoiler|which Anakin destroys.}}
* [[A Nazi by Any Other Name]]: The manner in which the Trade Federation marched into Theed mirrored the Nazis' march under the Arc de Triomphe. In addition, the Trade Federation, after occupying Naboo, also held the various indigenous people (Nabooian and Gungan) in camps that were implied to be death camps/concentration camps. In addition, it is implied that Palpatine orchestrated the Naboo blockade invasion to gain more power, similar to how Adolf Hitler had some of his army pose as Polish people and attack their own key buildings so he'd have the excuse to invade Poland. It might also reference Hitler invading his native land of Austria, seeing how Palpatine was the senator of the same planet that he orchestrated the Trade Federation's invasion of.
* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]]: Aside from the trouble [[The Scrappy|Jar-Jar]] causes in this movie, there is also the time when Qui-Gon {{spoiler|made it his dying wish for Obi-Wan to train Anakin}}. Those familiar enough with the series' overall story would know that {{spoiler|this didn't exactly work out all that well}}.
** And Padme following Palpatine's recommendation to call for a vote of no confidence, allowing him to become Chancellor.
** Heck, knowing what led to Anakin [[Love Makes You Evil|turning to the Dark Side]], the Jedi not accepting him earlier before Obi-Wan essentially threatened to go against the Order to train him himself also qualifies somewhat.
* [[No OSHA Compliance]]: A ''[[Star Wars]]'' staple, which probably reaches its highest point in the area where Qui-Gon and Obi Wan fight Maul -- Aa series of catwalks with no railings over bottomless pits.
** Naboo: idyllic paradise, or a labor union's worst nightmare?
* [[No Poverty]]: Naboo.
* [[Not-So-Innocent Whistle]]: Jar -Jar does that a few times.
* [[Off-the-Shelf FX]]: Qui-Gon's communicator is [http://www.moviemistakes.com/picture5903?&mode=picture a redecoed woman's razor].
* [[Oh Crap]]: A Gungan general's reaction to seeing a huge deployment of battle droids walk right through his army's force-field.
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** The Neimodians when they seal off the bridge and realize the Jedi are ''still getting through''.
** The pilot and co-pilot of the Republic cruiser in the docking bay of the Trade Federation Battleship. [[Killed Mid-Sentence|They don't even get a chance to finish saying]] [[Oh Crap]].
* [[Oh, No, Not Again]]: "Yousa in big dudu this time!" Also, Obi-Wan's scene with Qui-Gon at the Jedi Temple. ("Do not defy the Council, Master, not again.")
** Also, Obi-Wan's scene with Qui-Gon at the Jedi Temple. ("Do not defy the Council, Master, not again.")
* [[Ominous Latin Chanting|Ominous Sanskrit Chanting]]: ''Duel of the Fates''.
* [[One-Scene Wonder]]: Darth Maul is in around a tenth of the film but manages to steal the entire movie.
* [[Opposing Sports Team]]: Sebulba. Also doubles as [[The Rival]].
** Funnily enough, the [[Expanded Universe]] material sees Sebulba becoming a positively ''heroic'' figure as the Empire begins to crack down on podracing and sports in general.
* [[Parental Substitute]]: Rather sadly, Watto is the closest thing young Anakin has to a father figure. Though he STILL''still'' does occasionally discipline him and Shmi like any average slave owner would, from what we get to see he is genuinely fond of the mother and son, treats them well, and was ''genuinely'' sad to see Anakin go. On top of all that, he would not sell Shmi until he was ''certain'' that her new master was a kind man that give her a good and happy life. [[Word of God]] does state that Watto generally treats his slaves ''much'' better than most other masters.
** When Qui-Gon comes in, he takes on this role for Anakin.
* [[Pimped-Out Cape]]: About every other queen outfit Amidala wore had one.
* [[Pimped-Out Dress|Pimped Out Dresses]]es: Every one of Amidala's queen outfits.
* [[Plummet Perspective]]: A lightsaber goes a long way down a shaft.
** Also, Darth Maul when {{spoiler|he meets both [[Half the Man He Used To Be]] and [[Disney Death]]}}.
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* [[Pretty in Mink]]: Amidala's red dress is trimmed with brown fur.
* [[Radio Silence]]: It's vital that the Queen's shuttle not respond to the distress signals from Naboo to prevent giving away their location. But Darth Maul is somehow able to track them down anyway.
* [[Re Cut]]: The DVD release included a few additional moments, mostly ideas they had for the podrace. But a fan made re-cut of this film inspired a slew of fan made cuts of various films, largely toning down Jar -Jar's antics and Anakin's "yipeeyippee's".
** The Blu-Ray also makes changes -- most notably trading a much -contested puppet Yoda for a digital one similar to the one seen in later prequels.
* [[Rule of Symbolism]]: The virgin birth of Anakin Skywalker, who according to an ancient prophecy is said to bring balance to the Force. He also likes to build things and lived in the desert. The image of Darth Maul resembles the Christian Devil as well.
* [[Sacrificial Lion]]: {{spoiler|Qui-Gon Jinn.}} Probably to make sure audience attitude towards Darth Maul went from "[[Evil Is Cool|whoa, he's badass!]]" to "somebody kill that bastard!" just in time for his [[Karmic Death]].
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** The podrace is a [[Recycled in Space|space-age]] [[Chariot Race]], complete with giant engines in place of horses, and the whole sequence is a huge reference to ''[[Ben-Hur]]''.
** Some of Jar-Jar's antics are taken almost directly from the films of [[Buster Keaton]].
** Also as a likely [[Take That]], the leader of the Trade Federation is Nute Gunray after former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich as well as a reversal of Ronald Reagan, to get back at "Project Star Wars,"; and the Neimoidian senator is named Lott Dodd after U.S. Senators Trent Lott and Chris Dodd.
* [[Skyscraper City]]: Large swaths of the planet Coruscant are encrusted with giant skyscrapers... built on top of older skyscrapers... built on top of even older skyscrapers. It's uncertain if the planet even has actual ground anymore. It's said to host ''one trillion inhabitants''. A few of the skyscrapers are the construction droids that build more skyscrapers.
* [[Space Is Cold]]: Mentioned word-for-word by Padmé.
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